School For Workers

Workplace Emergency Response Planning

Avian Flu

  1. Current Legal Developments concering the Avian Flu Pandemic
  2. AFSCME Health and Safety Program: Pandemic Influenza
  3. Business Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist
    ECDC guidelines to minimise the risk of humans acquiring highly pathogenic avian influenza from exposure to infected birds or animals
    http://www.ecdc.eu.int/Health_topics/Avian_Influenza/pdf/Guidelines-human_exposure_HPAI.pdf

    See also--
    http://www.ecdc.eu.int/Health_topics/Avian_Influenza/Avian_Influenza.html

  4. Preparing Employers for Avian Flu Pandemic

    Mercer's pandemic preparedness program addresses the key HR issues of crisis leadership, employee communications, workforce planning of critical business functions and the review of HR policies such as employee insurance coverage, travel restrictions and evacuations, sick leave, working remotely, and preventive health measures.

  5. Avian Influenza: Protecting Workers from Exposure

    A NIOSH Health and Safety Topic

Contingency plans scarce in face of avian flu

Mike Drummond
mdrummond@charlotteobserver.com

Ninety million Americans fall prey to avian flu and in a matter of days more than a third of the nation's work force calls in sick. Two million people, mostly the young and elderly, die.

Sounds like Hollywood. But this doomsday script comes courtesy of the Congressional Budget Office, which last month released dire economic projections should avian influenza reach a pandemic in the United States.

Should a worst-case scenario unfold, companies lacking communicable disease policies face a raft of potential headaches beyond just getting daily work done, workplace experts say.

The bad news includes:

The disease has killed more than 70 people to date in Southeast Asia, and at least four in Turkey, where infected birds recently were discovered. Infected birds also have been found in Ukraine, showing that the pathogen has migrated to Europe. The disease is transmitted from bird to humans. The fear is that it will acquire the ability to jump from human to human. There would be little immunity to it, the Centers for Disease Control said.

North Carolina, among the nation's top five in producing chickens, turkeys and game birds, and the U.S. have policies banning imports of all birds from countries where avian flu has been found.

Unlike 2003, when Chinese officials downplayed the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, global news has brimmed with avian flu reports.

Among Charlotte's larger employers, Duke Energy doesn't have a specific avian flu policy, although it does have contingencies for other emergencies "that can be tweaked" in the event of an outbreak, the company said. A Wachovia Corp. spokeswoman said the bank "has detailed plans to respond to any potential business interruption."

Andrew McCruden, senior business continuity manager at Bank of America Corp., said the company is "in the assessment phase" and has "not ruled out any specific preparatory or response measure" for an avian flu outbreak. The company has existing disaster preparedness plans.

London-based financial services company HSBC Holdings, with operations in the Carolinas, last week said it is preparing for operating with up to 50 percent of its staff absent if there's a bird flu pandemic.

Littler Mendelson, with an office in Charlotte, and other law firms and management consultants are encouraging clients to draft plans in case of an outbreak.

"Some contingency planning would be wise," said Lynn Daniel, management consultant at The Daniel Group in Charlotte.

Contingencies include:

Daniel also suggested that companies curtail travel when possible, particularly to Southeast Asia, and have a Plan B for handling business remotely.

"If you have a serous outbreak in the Far East," he said, "you don't want to be sending employees there."

Mason Alexander, an employment lawyer at Fisher & Phillips in Charlotte, said businesses with national offices need "to have some redundancy built in."

He noted that before Hurricane Katrina hit in September, his law firm moved work from New Orleans to Atlanta offices.

Alexander and others noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is bracing for a possible pandemic. FEMA drew criticism for mishandling disaster relief after the flooding in New Orleans. Alexander said FEMA handles hurricanes better than it does floods.

"It's the thing you're not used to dealing with where you'll have all the problems," he said. "And we don't have any dealing with (an avian flu pandemic), and there's no place to get any practice."

For Greg Santo, the prospect of a pandemic hits home.

The vice president of operations at Occupational Safety & Environmental Assoc. Inc. in Charlotte said he lost great uncles and aunts in the Statesville area when Spanish flu swept the globe in 1918.

The Buffalo, N.Y.-based company helps businesses plan for emergencies.

"I don't know of any companies that have (plans for avian flu outbreak)," he said. "It's a glowing deficiency."

Pandemics Through the Ages

1347 Bubonic plague

Transmitted via fleas. After five years, the plague killed 25 million people -- a third of Europe. Serious labor shortages lead workers to demand higher wages, triggering peasant revolts in England, France, Belgium and Italy.

1918--1919 Spanish flu or La Grippa

Thought to have originated in China in a rare genetic shift of the influenza virus. It killed more than 500,000 in the United States and up to 50 million worldwide -- far more than those who died during World War I. The flu was most deadly for people ages 20 to 40, unusual for influenza, which usually kills the elderly and young.

1957 Asian flu

Blamed for the deaths of about 70,000 in the United States -- most of them elderly. According to the Centers for Disease Control, this pandemic was identified quickly because of scientific advances.

1968 Hong Kong flu

Some 34,000 killed in the United States, making it the mildest flu pandemic of the century, according to the CDC.